Tiber River in Movies and Books

When I started my entry for this week it went something like this:

Why don’t we see or hear much about the Tiber River when we learn about Rome through books and movies? In many works like “Roman Fever” or Daisy Miller or Catarina in the Big City, I was surprised that the immensity and importance of the river isn’t ever mentioned. Out of the books and movies that I’ve experience while studying Rome I’ve seen the river’s importance in only one, the movie Bicycle Thieves. I see Roman’s gathering by the river every single day, no matter the time or the weather, so why wouldn’t every piece about Rome have this necessary factor in the text?

Then I watched the White Sheik where the river was mentioned again because Wanda tries to “throw” herself into the river but really only jumps in the mud getting a little wet. Perhaps this portrayal of the river is how some people view it, is it only a place that is equivalent to stepping in mud?